Tag: parade

For the ten years I called picturesque Heidelberg, Germany home, I was lucky to have a bird’s eye view when Fasching festivities took the university town by storm, as I’m sure they did today.

Fasching, Germany’s equivalent to Mardi Gras or Carnaval, includes pre-Lenten activities celebrated between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday. My former apartment, housed on the fifth floor of an 18th-century building, offered the perfect spot to glimpse the crazy characters and floats as they passed by during the city’s annual Fasching parade.

The parades usually took place on days that I had to work. Alas, when I returned to my Altstadt (old town) neighborhood shortly after the parade had plowed through, I found the streets adorned with confetti, streamers, and wrappers that hinted at the goodies that had been tossed from floats. Some years, unable to resist being part of the fun, I took a vacation day and watched as men dressed in medieval garb twirled flags bearing Heidelberg’s crest, and fluffy blue beings powdered the noses of onlookers (yours truly included), and men sported Pippy Longstocking-esque braids. Here’s to more memories…